JAI MAHMOOD:
And by this point, the trillionth time of asking, seeing how fucking furrow-browed everyone was, I told them about our system. There was this antique tin hidden on the roof, near the gutters, an old Twinings tea tin, and that’s where Zoe left cash for me and I left Xans for her. We never handed stuff to each other. I’d arrive and she’d usually be leaning out over the ledge, looking down. I’d open the tin, take the cash, leave a pill. If she was there, then we’d talk. The only reason I told them about it was because I’d cleaned it out that day I snuck back into the tower. I’d already swallowed what had been left inside there, so I thought, what’s the harm?
SARAH MANNING:
The tin was our first significant break in the case. When officers accessed the roof with Jai, he led them to it and they arranged for its recovery by forensics. This would have been Christmas Eve. There were no drugs inside, there was no money either. There was just a photograph of a man in his forties.
JAI MAHMOOD:
They had to do prints and stuff, so they didn’t open it there and then. In my mind, it was just some empty tin, same as I’d left it. I only found out later when they dragged me back in for more questioning that something had changed. What spun me, right, what’s still spinning me now, is I’d been back to the tower, like, days after Zoe’s disappearance. Like I say, the cops were nowhere, so I went through that tin and emptied everything inside into my pocket. It was a couple of pills and that was that. So I’m telling you, hand on heart, that when she went missing, there was no picture in that tin. Someone planted it after, and that should shit us all up, even the people who want it to be true.
Because it was like everything else the police were working off, and it was like everything else the papers were printing—it was just another anonymous source. Someone was way ahead of us, man, scattering bread crumbs for people to follow. Only problem was, to my way of thinking, that trail took us right off the edge of a cliff.
From: [email protected]
Sent: 2019-02-09 06:13
To: you
on Fri, Feb 08, 2019, Joseph Knox [email protected] wrote:
Ugh, that’s really disturbing about the phone calls, but if you WILL go around writing your number on the walls of public toilets…
In all seriousness you should disconnect the phone for the night and maybe talk to your provider about going ex-directory (or even changing the number). Is it possible someone’s playing a weird prank?
Just reading through ch.14. I’d love to know wtf happens to ￡77k when it’s untraceable and in a missing person’s bank account? I’d also be interested to see a copy of this picture they found on the roof.
One final rogue thought re: phone calls. Have you given your home number to any of the people you’ve been interviewing? Because if there’s any element of danger here you should consider stopping altogether. The story’s not worth that.
Jx
# # #
Hey JK. SO. The cash is actually STILL in that account. I think you need to be missing seven years for the high court to rule death in settlement of an estate, so it’s happening now. I’d imagine it’ll go to Zoe’s family.
You don’t think it could be a motive to get rid of her? Guess it would be playing a very long game if so…
Scan of rooftop picture from Sarah Manning here:
I wasn’t going to say this, but I think I actually will: What do you mean that I should “consider stopping”? Stop writing the book? And are you saying the story’s not worth it because it’s not interesting, or because I’m not presenting it in the way you would? Because it’s worth it to me and that should be enough.
And on those phone calls, after the 50th one (only slight exaggeration), I finally fucking googled my number. I found it’s been listed on a personal ads site saying I can “suck the freckles off a man’s dick.”
Obv unpleasant to think about who might have put it there and why, but there’s no chance I’m stopping now, whatever you might think about my story. XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXX
One thing I’ve been meaning to ask, Joe—you haven’t been sharing this with anyone, have you?
Ex(hausted)
15.
“Heart Attack”
With new information finally emerging about Zoe’s secret life, her family and friends are forced to confront some uncomfortable facts.
ROBERT NOLAN:
We spent Christmas Day in the tower. That’s where the police came in with a picture, saying, “Can you identify this man?”
ANDREW FLOWERS:
I’d gone from estrangement from my father to derangement of my father, to probable disinheritance. The press conference had been one thing, but then there was the story in the Mail showing myself, Jai and Kim all engaged in the apparent act of buying narcotics. They implied some strange bond between us, a sex triangle that saw us harboring Jai and plotting something rather than just trying to take him in to talk to the police. Owens Park had been almost entirely cleared out for Christmas, it was just losers like us with nowhere to go. I’m sure I speak for everyone involved when I say that time of year’s really lost its luster for me. Someone should write a Christmas song about what a lot of shit it can be—they’d be set for life. By this point, Owens Park was this cavernous, deserted student village that handily contained every known suspect in a young woman’s disappearance. So after the drug pictures, there was this constant snarling wolf pack of photographers camping out at the gate, waiting for anyone to go in or out.
I don’t know why the Nolans didn’t get a hotel—money I suppose—but yes, it was certainly uncomfortable. Jai and I were avoiding the rest of them—they suspected us of everything you can think of—and we were trying to avoid each other for the same reason. There was the bad smell in the air from my trying to fight him at the party, accusing him of taking my Rolex, and at the same time, he was trying to go straight or clean or whatever they call it. I was still hiding my face while the scratches healed, still miffed that I’d paid off Jai’s drug debts without so much as a thank you, so the atmosphere was certainly fraught. More so when the police arrived on Christmas Eve to take him back in for questioning.
SARAH MANNING: